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Jeff Robson's Travels
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Location Date Pakistan 1707091200 South Korea 1531004400 India 
1530918000 Thailand 1529967600 United Arab Emirates 1503097200 -
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Location Date Mon, 28 August 2017 1503930460 Sun, 27 August 2017 1503843750 Sat, 26 August 2017
1503757118
- Woke up at 5.30am & got ready for the day ahead. No real possibility for showers but oh well, don't really need it!
- Did my medical check then went out to roam the village & take some photos of the town, surrounding mountains & the people.
- Lots of donkeys here as well. Most look surprisingly well-maintained! A few saddle sores here & there but mostly good, quite pleasing.
- Met some people who had just returned from the Valley of Flowers & had a nice chat with them for a little while.
- They also pointed me to a building that the Sikhs run (temple?). Guy inside chanting & a few people watching. You can also get free food here.
- Back to the hotel by 7.00 for breakfast then a briefing at 8 before we headed off.
- Lots of head wobbling during the briefing, which means "yes, we understand". A head wobble can also mean "no" so it's a little context sensitive it seems! "Ha" with a head wobble also means "yes", though they also say the word "yes" at times too! It's funny.
- I accidentally left my trekking pole behind so the guy from the hotel had to run down & meet us with it! Oops! Yes, there's always one on every trek isn't there!
- Drove the first 4km to the start of the trail, then began our trek.
- It was quite challenging carrying my pack but I managed to take it up all the way (about 9km).
- It doesn't sound like much but the elevation change of 2,000 feet plus the higher altitude made it much more challenging.
- Absolutely stunning scenery with beautiful blue skies, green velvet mountains dotted with pine trees, & the river crashing through the Valley. So beautiful!
- Later in the day, the clouds starting to roll in, covering the mountain tops & bringing some very welcome shade from the sun.
- Stopped for lunch at a roadside stall & it started raining. I had my poncho so all fine but it stopped raining shortly afterwards. I forgot I had a packed lunch so had an extra naan before I realised.
- About 3-4 groups of random young guys wanted to have photos with me along the trail! It's funny being such a "celebrity"!
- Lots of old Sikh guys with huge beards & turbans. Would love to take their photo but not sneaky enough or brave enough to ask.
- Porters can carry a ridiculous amount of weight on their backs. Saw one guy with 65kg of packs etc, others were carrying beds down the mountain!
- A surprising number of shops along the trail. Stopped at one for another freshly squeezed juice. A nice change from water.
- Sandeep, our trek leader, carried my pack for the last 1.5km as he really liked the pack & wanted to see what it's like to walk with it. He has pack-envy ... apparently my pack "spoke to his back"!!
- Chatting with him on the trail was fun & I was teaching him to speak like a Singaporean by putting "lah" at the end of every sentence!
- He also carried my camera for a while & took a few crappy photos with it.
- Arrived at the hotel at about 3.30pm, did our medical checks & stretches, then played a game of mafia, where you have to guess who the mafia is before they kill everyone!
- Quite cold in the evening so everyone rugged up!
- One of the guys on the tour raced ahead with his 3 sons even though Sandeep had said quite clearly during the briefing that we all had to talk together. A big argument ensued, most of it it Hindi, but the end result was that he agreed to abide by the rules - I think!
- Valley of Flowers tomorrow!!
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